Congressional Record Index

Last updated on 09-25-2025

Congressional Record Index (Daily), 1983 to Present

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About the Congressional Record Index

What is the Congressional Record Index?

The Congressional Record Index (CRI) serves as the index to the Congressional Record. When Congress is in session, the Joint Committee on Printing publishes the Congressional Record Index. In print, the Congressional Record Index contains both the index proper and the History of Bills and Resolutions. The History of Bills and Resolutions is a separate collection in GovInfo.

The index proper lists individuals, organizations, and topics mentioned in the Congressional Record. Each CRI entry refers to a page number in the Congressional Record and the date of the daily issue in the format "S1234 [19JA]" (page 1234 in the Senate section from the January 19 issue for that year).

Members of Congress are listed alphabetically by last name in the Congressional Record Index. Thus, users must search for individuals by entering the last name before the first name. Additionally, users should include all forms of an individual's first name, since Members of Congress may choose how they want their name to appear in the Congressional Record. For instance, in the 1991 Congressional Record Index , Bob Dole is listed as both “Dole, Bob” and “Dole, Robert”.

What is Available?

GovInfo contains CRI issues from 1983 to the present. All documents are available as ASCII text files. In addition, documents from the 1998 CRI are available as HTML files with links to pages in the Congressional Record.


Congressional Record Index Corrections

Online Corrections to the Congressional Record Background

Beginning in 2007, an amended version of the Congressional Record was made available. The program was initiated by the Secretary of the Senate, Clerk of the House, and JCP, who directed GPO to proceed with a program supporting modifications to the online version of the Congressional Record.

The amended documents on GovInfo contain corrections to miscellaneous issues of the online version of the Congressional Record.

Online Corrections to the Congressional Record Index Process

The TEXT and PDF files are corrected, made available through regular search and browse functionality in the user interface, and the explanation of the corrections, including the original, uncorrected text, appears within the document. In the PDF version, the correction appears as a sidenote that can be viewed by scrolling over the yellow "correction" boxes. In the TEXT version, the correction is noted by a series of asterisks, language alerting the reader to the correction, and the amended text. Congress approves the corrections, typically small, clerical errors, and submits them to GPO.

Programs other than the Adobe Reader that open PDF files may not allow users to view the corrections as the Adobe Reader does. PDF files are independent of computer platform or distribution media and are available to all users who have the free Adobe Reader software. Download the free Adobe Reader. The corrections can be viewed by all within the TEXT file provided as well.

Online Corrections to the Congressional Record Printed in the Congressional Record Index

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  • 2005

    • Searching the Congressional Record Index

    You can find and search the Congressional Record Index by:

    • Using basic search for keyword and metadata fielded searches (see Metadata Fields and Values section),
    • Using advanced search; fields specific to the Congressional Record Index will display after you select Congressional Record Index in the Refine by Collection column,
    • Refining search results by clicking on links in the Refine Your Search panel on the left side of the page (the sections under Refine Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents),
    • Browsing on the Congressional Record Index browse page.

    General GovInfo Search Tips

    Search Examples

    Search by Congress Member – For example, documents with congress member McConnell.

    • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:cri member:mcconnell
    • Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record Index under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Congress Member from the first box and enter mcconnell in the next box

    Search by Keyword – For example, documents with the words "executive" and "communications" in the full text or metadata.

    • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:cri executive communications
    • Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record Index under Refine by Collection, then under Search In enter executive communications in the second text box

    Search by Bill Number – For example, documents that reference House Resolution 2.

    • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:cri billscitation:"h.r. 2"
    • Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record Index under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Congressional Bills Citation from the first box and enter "h.r. 2" in the next box

    Search by Report Number – For example, documents that reference House Report 106-774.

    • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:cri crptcitation:"h. rept. 106-774"
    • Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record Index under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Congressional Report Citation from the first box and enter "h. rept. 106-774" in the next box

    Search by Title – For example,documents that have "secretary of state" in the title.

    • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:cri title:"secretary of state"
    • Using Advanced Search, select Congressional Record Index under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Title from the first box and enter "secretary of state" in the next box

    Sample Congressional Record Index URLs

    GovInfo uses two key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and Details pages.

    • The Granule ID for the Congressional Record Index is used to identify the specific document within an issue of the publication
    • The Package ID is used to identify an entire issue of the publication.

    Identifier

    Structure/Metadata Field

    Examples

    Package ID

    CRI-{Year}

    CRI-2010

    Granule ID

    {Package ID}-{Title Prefix}-{Title Suffix}

    Notes:

    1. The Title Prefix is all characters up to the first left parentheses or the first 40 characters in the title.

    2. For titles with more than 40 characters, a MD5 hash is applied to the remaining characters in the title and the first 6 characters of the hash are used for Title Suffix. Title Suffix is only used when there are more than 40 characters in the title.

    3. Spaces are converted into dashes and commas, periods, etc. are removed for Title.

    CRI-2010-NATIONAL-BASKETBALL-ASSOCIATION

    CRI-2010-NAPA-COUNTY-CA

    CRI-2010-NATIONAL-ADULT-EDUCATION-AND-FAMIL-21F3C

    Details Page for an Entire Issue

    Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{packageId}

    Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CRI-2010

    HTML File for an Entire Issue

    Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{packageId}/html/{packageId}.htm

    Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRI-2010/html/CRI-2010.htm

    Details Page for an Individual Document

    Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{packageId}/{granuleId}

    Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CRI-2010/CRI-2010-NATIONAL-ADOPT-A-LIBRARY-DAY

    HTML File for an Individual Document

    Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{packageId}/html/{granuleId}.htm

    Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRI-2010/html/CRI-2010-NATIONAL-ADOPT-A-LIBRARY-DAY.htm


    Congressional Record Index Metadata Fields and Values

    Metadata fields and values can be used to increase the relevancy of your searches. The metadata fields available for the Congressional Record Index are listed in the table below. Metadata fields and values are used throughout GovInfo for

    • Narrowing Your Search,
    • Browsing Government Publications,
    • Field Operators,
    • Advanced Search, and
    • Display on Details Pages.

    Metadata fields and values can be entered into the Search Box using field operators. The field operators available for Congressional Record are listed in the table below, along with examples for each metadata field. Using Field Operators

    Some of these metadata fields are made available for use on the Advanced Search page. The metadata values can be entered in the same format for the fields available on the Advanced Search Page. Using Advanced Search

    Metadata Field Display Name

    Metadata Field Definition

    Field Operator

    Field Operator Example

    Collection

    The collection to which the document belongs. Typically the same as the publication or series.

    collection:

    collection:cri

    "cri” is used for Congressional Record Index

    Government Author

    The names of the Government organizations responsible for authoring or assembling the document.

    governmentauthor:

    governmentauthor:congress

    Publication Date

    The date the document was first made available to the public.

    publishdate:

    publishdate:2005-05-07

    Date format is YYYY-MM-DD

    Language

    The language code of the original document, from the ISO639-2b standard.

    language:

    language:eng

    SuDoc Class Number

    The SuDoc class number from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents which classifies Government publications by publishing agency.

    sudocclass:

    sudocclass:"X 1.1/A:"

    The SuDoc Class Numbers in GovInfo are generally at the class stem level, not the book number level.

    Ingestion Date

    The date the document was ingested into the FDsys preservation repository.

    ingestdate:

    ingestdate:2009-04-21

    Date format is YYYY-MM-DD

    Electronic Location (URL)

    The URL where the document or the document in context (the content detail page) is located.

    url:

    url:"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

    pkg/CRI-1989/html/CRI-1989-ADAMS-PAUL-A.htm"

    Publisher

    The government organization who publishes the document or publication. Not typically the Government Publishing Office (who serves as the printer and distributor), except in the case of Congressional publications.

    publisher:

    publisher:"u.s. government printing office"

    Branch

    The branch of Government responsible for the document's contents.

    branch:

    branch:legislative

    Possible values: executive, legislative, judicial

    Type of Resource

    The media type for the document, typically "text". Defined as part of the Library of Congress MODS standard.

    typeofresource:

    typeofresource:text

    Record Origin

    How the record was originally generated. Typically "machine generated."

    recordorigin:

    recordorigin:"machine generated"

    Title

    The title of the publication or document.

    title:

    title:health

    Congress Number

    The number of the Congress responsible for the document. Congresses last for two years, so for example, the 110th Congress was in session from 2007 through 2008. Currently, GPO has data starting with the 101st congress for some collections. Check the collection browse page for more details on how much data is available for each individual collection.

    congress:

    congress:110

    Session Number

    Session of Congress. Each Congress is divided into two yearly sessions. So, the "1st session" will be the first year that a particular congress (for example, the 110th congress) is in session.

    session:

    session:2

    Possible values: 1, 2

    Volume

    The volume number of the publication to which the document belongs.

    volume:

    volume:155

    Congressional Bills Citation

    Citation references to Congressional Bills. Examples include, "H.R. 99", "S. 99" "H.J. Res. 99", "S.J. Res. 99", "H. Con. Res. 99", "S. Con. Res. 99", "H. Res. 99" or "S. Res. 99".

    billscitation:

    billscitation:"S. Res. 99"

    Congressional Report Citation

    Citation references to Congressional Reports. For example, "H. Rept. 110-32".

    crptcitation:

    cprtcitation:"S. Prt. 110-32"

    Congress Member

    Congress member name. For example, "Barbara A. Mikulski" or simply "Mikulski".

    member:

    member:mikulski

    Congressional Committee

    Congressional committee name. For example, "Committee on Foreign Relations".

    committee:

    committee:"foreign relations"

    Congressional Record Index Related Resources